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Analysis of Clytemnestra's Character in Agamemnon In Aeschylus' tragedy
Agamemnon the character of Clytemnestra is portrayed as strong willed woman.
This characteristic is not necessarily typical of women of her time. As a
result, the reader must take a deeper look into the understanding of
Clytemnestra. In Agamemnon she dominates the action. Her most important
characteristic is like the watchman calls it, male strength of heart. She is a
strong woman, and her strength is evident on many occasions is the play. Later
in the play after Clytemnestra murders her husband, Agamemnon, and his
concubine, Cassandra, she reveals her driving force and was has spurned all of
her actions until this point. Clytemnestra is seen by the Elders of Argos (the
Chorus) as untrustworthy and although suspicious of her they still could not
foresee the impending murders. Her words are plain but her meaning hidden to all
those around her. She more or less alludes to her plan of murder without fear of
being detected. Only the audience can seem to understand the double meaning in
her words. One example of how Clytemnestra hides meanings in otherwise plain
words is stated in her hope that Agamemnon and his soldiers do not commit any
sacrilege in Troy that might offend the gods. Now must they pay due respect to
the gods that inhabit the town, the gods of the conquered land, or their victory
may end in their own destruction after all. Too soon for their safety, the
soldiery, seized with greed, may yield to their covetousness and lay hands on
forbidden spoil.
They have still to bring themselves home, have still the
backward arm of the double course to make. And if no sin against heaven rest on
the returning host, there is the wrong of the dead that watches. Evil may find
accomplishment, although it fall not at once. This can be interpreted in two
ways. The first being that her wish for Agamemnon to return safely is so she may
kill him herself. The second, is that of sarcasm. Perhaps she really does wish
for Agamemnon to upset the gods. That way when she murders him she will divine
sanction. Another instance that there is a double meaning in her words is in her
pleadings to the herald to take this message back to Agamemnon, let him come
with speed to the people that love him, come to find in his home the wife
faithful, even such as he left her, a very house-dog, loyal to one and an enemy
to his foes… The audience knows this to be untrue because not only has she not
been faithful, but the person she was unfaithful with is the rival to
Agamemnon's crown, his cousin Aegisthus. The Chorus' distrust in her is shown by
their comment to the herald in which they are trying to explain her boastful and
yet sarcastic attitude, She speaks thus to teach you; to those who clearly can
discern, her words are hypocrisy. Time and again in the play her strength is
demonstrated when she forces Agamemnon, Aegisthus, and the Elders of Argos to
bend to her will. For example, she influences the Elders to sacrifice to the
gods for Agamemnon's safe return and temporarily wins their trust and support.
In fact they sing her praises for suggesting it by saying, Lady, no man could
speak more kindly wisdom than you.
For my part, after the sure proof heard from
you, my purpose is now to give our thanks to the gods, who have wrought a return
in full for all the pains. Her shrewdness is also shown by the way she coaxes
her husband into submission. She wants him to walk on rich purple tapestries in
hopes that this would anger the gods and they will aid her in his murder. She
does so by challenging his manhood like in the statement, Then let not blame of
men make you ashamed. In which she is basically calling him a chicken. He gives
in and takes off his sandals and walks on the tapestries even though he fears it
may not please the gods. She single-handedly plots the murder of Agamemnon and
Cassandra. When she is successful in taking away their lives she professes it
loudly, For me, I have had long enough to prepare this wrestle for victory,
though it has come at last. I stand where I struck, over the finished work.
According to Clytemnestra, she believes she is doing right, an offering of
thanks to the nether god, to Hades, safe keeper of the dead. Once again her
persuasive tactics are put to good use as she tries to persuade the Elders that
she was correct in killing their king, So stands the case, nobles of Argos here;
be glad of it, if you will; for me, I triumph upon it. The Elders are shocked
not only to find their king dead, but at the hand of his wife, and now she has
the audacity to say she is right.
They reply, We are astonished that your mouth
bears so bold a tongue, to boost over your dead lord in such terms. They
threaten to cast her out in exile, but she asked why she must be banished for
killing the very person who sacrificed her child. Which in her own opinion was
not necessary. She says, though his fleecy herds had sheep enough, he sacrificed
hid own child, the darling born of my pains, to charm the winds of Thrace. With
this the elders can't argue but the do warn, you shall find yourself friendless
and pay retaliatory stroke for stroke. But Clytemnestra with her cunning ways
justifies this double murder by stating how her husband was unfaithful with many
women, …my husband-the darling of each Chryseis in the Trojan camp!-and with him
his captive, his auguress, his oracle-monger mistress, who shared with him
faithfully even the ship's bench and the canvas! But they did it not unpunished!
For here lies as you see, and she, having sung swanlike her last sad song of
death, lies by him lovably, adding to the sweet of my triumph a spice of sex.
After fighting back and forth over the matter, the Elders are torn between love
of their king and whether Clytemnestra was right in killing him. Clytemnestra
believes that she was in the will of the gods because she was seeking revenge
not only for her sacrificed daughter, but Agamemnon's cousins (the brothers of
Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover).
She was carrying out punishment for being
unfaithful. According to her, she was allowed by the gods because of these and
other repeated sins toward them (i.e. walking on the tapestries) as well as
carrying out the curse of his household. This situation arouses mixed emotions
in the Elders and perhaps the same in the readers. But if the audience would put
themselves in the time and culture of the Greeks, was a person not shunned
unless revenge was taken for their loved ones. The entire Trojan War was based
on one act of vengefulness after another, spawned from the seduction of Helen.
So in that sense the reader can offer only sympathy for a broken hearted mother
whose rage encouraged by her culture drove her to kill her husband and his
concubine. And with this same tradition of revenge for one act to another, she
too will face a day when she is killed for revenge by her son, and the cycle
will continue.
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